How to Learn Japanese Grammar for Free
Everyone hates studying grammar. You learn a bunch of rules, only to find them broken two chapters later. It’s like the worst of math and chemistry combined.
Never knew before what eternity was made for. It is to give some of us a chance to learn German. — Mark Twain
German grammar drove Mark Twain to make “interesting” remarks. But relax, we’re learning Japanese, not German. After learning all those difficult kanji, it should come as a relief that grammar won’t present as much of a difficulty. (Perhaps because the drudgery of kanji fortifies people mentally).
The basics of Japanese grammar are easy to grasp. Many aspects of grammar follow regular patterns that are rarely interrupted. Can you believe that there are only three verbs with irregular conjugations in Japanese? Please take note, Europe. (Of course, all this goodwill is lost when you encounter the irregularity in kanji readings 😭).
My approach to learning grammar is the same as for vocabulary. I like to get through the bare minimum needed to understand content as soon as possible and learn the rest through immersion. For that purpose, there’s no resource more concise and succinct than Tae Kim’s grammar guide.
Tae Kim’s Grammar Guides
Tae Kim has written 2 grammar guides. Guide to Japanese Grammar is the one I used myself, mainly because it’s available in app form on mobile. On the other hand, The Complete Guide to Japanese is apparently even shorter and more distilled. Since I haven’t used this second guide, I’ll be exclusively talking about the first.
Tae Kim’s Guide to Japanese Grammar explains the fundamentals of Japanese grammar such as verb conjugations and common grammatical constructs in an efficient manner. The examples are practical yet easy to follow.
Each chapter covers one topic and is relatively quick to read through and understand. It’s divided into sections are all short and concise (unlike this blog). He explains how to use the grammatical structure as well as the logical reasoning behind it, where applicable. Chapters build upon each other in a natural progression of difficulty.
The best part? Both guides are completely free.
Despite being free, Tae Kim’s guide is just as good, if not better, than books and resources that cost much more.
Guide to Japanese Grammar is available in a variety of forms and platforms. There is, of course, the website. You can find apps for both iOS and Android. It’s also available in PDF form and as a paperback you can buy on Amazon.
A great thing about the Android version is that you can click unfamiliar words to immediately show their reading and meaning.
